London Film Festival 2016 line-up: Everything showing at this year's LFF from Free Fire to La La Land

The London Film Festival announced its 2016 programme this morning, and is set to screen a total of 193 fiction and 52 documentary features, including 18 world premieres, 8 international premieres and 39 European premieres. There will also be screenings of 144 short films, including documentary, live action and animated works.

The fest takes places over 12 days in September at venues across the capital, from the West End cinemas - Vue West End and the iconic Odeon Leicester Square; central London venues - BFI Southbank, BFI IMAX, Picturehouse Central, the ICA, Curzon Mayfair, Curzon Soho, Haymarket, Prince Charles Cinema and Ciné Lumière; and local cinemas - the Ritzy in Brixton, Hackney Picturehouse and Curzon Chelsea.

Everything from major award contenders like Ben Wheatley's Free Fire and Damien Chazelle's La La Land right down to independent animations like My Life As A Courgette will show.

Opening & Closing Night Galas

The Festival opens with the European Premiere of Amma Asante’s A UNITED KINGDOM, starring David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike. Director Asante, a previous winner of the Festival’s UK Film Talent Award, returns to the Festival for a second time with a film that tells the true story of Seretse Khama, King of Bechuanaland (modern Botswana), and Ruth Williams, the London office worker he married in 1947 in the face of fierce opposition from their families and the British and South African governments.

There will be a live cinecast from the London event and simultaneous screenings taking place at cinemas across the UK.

The European Premiere of Ben Wheatley’s high octane FREE FIRE will close the Festival on Sunday 16 October. FREE FIRE is Wheatley’s third film to be presented at the Festival, following High-Rise (2015) which screened as Festival Gala and Sightseers (2012) which screened as Laugh Gala. Sharp-witted Justine (Brie Larson) brokers a meeting in a deserted warehouse between two Irishmen (Cillian Murphy, Michael Smiley) and a gang led by Vernon (Sharlto Copley) and Ord (Armie Hammer) who are selling them a stash of guns. But when shots are fired in the handover, a heart stopping game of survival ensues.

Headline Galas

The previously announced American Express Gala is Garth Davis’ feature debut LION, staring BAFTA nominee Dev Patel, Rooney Mara, David Wenham and Academy Award® winner Nicole Kidman. Adapted from Saroo Brierley’s engrossing memoir A Long Way Home, LION tells the true story of how a wrong train takes a five-year-old Indian boy hundreds of miles from home and family. Adopted as a child by an Australian couple, and twenty-five years later, haunted by memories of his childhood, he sets out to find his lost family.

We are delighted to welcome Royal Bank of Canada to the LFF family, who will present Canadian director Denis Villeneuve’s ARRIVAL as their gala. This emotionally arresting, visually inventive science fiction movie, based on the award-winning Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang stars Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker and Michael Stuhlberg.

THE BIRTH OF A NATION, which won the Sundance Jury and Audience Awards, receives its European Premiere as a Headline Gala. This tour de force, directed by Nate Parker, is a grueling account of the life of an enslaved African-American who led a slave revolt in Virginia in 1831, and stars Parker himself alongside Armie Hammer, Aunjanue Ellis, Aja Naomi King and Gabrielle Union.

Damien Chazelle returns to the Festival following the gala presentation of the award winning Whiplash (LFF2014), with LA LA LAND, the hotly anticipated bittersweet love letter to the city of Los Angeles, combining the charm of golden era of Hollywood musicals with the visual flair of French maestro Jacques Demy, and starring Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, John Legend and Academy Award® and BAFTA winner JK Simmons.

The European Premiere of MANCHESTER BY THE SEA is another Headline Gala, seeing Kenneth Lonergan return to the LFF with his third feature as director. The film starring Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler and Lucas Hedges is a visually eloquent and emotionally devastating exploration of grief and redemption.

The May Fair Hotel Gala is J.A. Bayona’s A MONSTER CALLS, a highly moving film based on the hugely popular book by Patrick Ness. A young boy’s vast imagination enables him to see wonder beyond his tough circumstances in this sublime fantasy with Lewis MacDougall in the lead role as 12-year-old Conor. The film also stars Sigourney Weaver, Felicity Jones, Toby Kebbell, and the melodic and imposing voice of Liam Neeson.

With NOCTURNAL ANIMALS, Tom Ford returns with a dark, sophisticated adaptation of Austin Wright’s novel Tony and Susan. With a stellar cast including Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Isla Fisher and Armie Hammer, the film reunites many of the creative team behind A Single Man (LFF2009).

The Virgin Atlantic Gala is the European Premiere of QUEEN OF KATWE, Mira Nair’s vibrant, powerful true life tale of one girl’s determination to escape from poverty in Uganda by becoming a chess champion. The film stars newcomer Madina Nalwanga, David Oyelowo and Lupita Nyong’o.

SNOWDEN is presented as a Headline Gala. Oliver Stone’s super-charged political thriller stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the titular intelligence operative alongside Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo, Zachary Quinto, Tom Wilkinson and Scott Eastwood.

The Mayor of London’s Gala is the European Premiere of THEIR FINEST, which sees director Lone Scherfig return to the Festival following An Education (LFF2009) Gemma Arterton and Sam Claflin star in this delectable comedic drama, set in the world of filmmaking in London during the 1940s.

The Archive Gala is the World Premiere of the BFI National Archive restoration of Arthur Robison’s THE INFORMER (1929). This rare silent adaptation of Liam O’Flaherty’s famous novel is set among Dublin revolutionaries in the early days of the newly independent Irish Free State, formed in 1922. The screening will be accompanied by a specially commissioned score by Irish composer Garth Knox performed live by a six-piece ensemble.

Four films take the spotlight in this section: the Festival Special Presentation, AMERICAN HONEY, Andrea Arnold’s sun-soaked and tune-filled epic about door-to-door teenage magazine sellers travelling America’s highways; the Documentary Special Presentation, Ava DuVernay’s far-reaching and powerful THE 13TH, a searing look at a century of race relations in America; the Experimenta Special Presentation, Fiona Tan’s dazzling ASCENT, exploring the beautiful and mysterious Mount Fuji using imagery from across the history of still photography; and the BFI Flare Special Presentation, Xavier Dolan’s IT’S ONLY THE END OF THE WORLD, which won the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. 2016 marks the introduction of this Special Presentation for BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival, which takes place every March at BFI Southbank, and showcases the best in contemporary queer cinema from around the world.

The nine programme strands are each headlined with a gala, they are: the Love Gala, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s MIRZYA; the Debate Gala, Bertrand Bonello’s NOCTURAMA; the Dare Gala, Park Chan-wook’s THE HANDMAIDEN; the Laugh Gala, Maren Ade’s TONI ERDMANN; the Thrill Gala, Ben Younger’s BLEED FOR THIS; the Cult Gala, André Øvredal’s THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE; the Journey Gala, Jim Jarmusch’s PATERSON; the Sonic Gala, Spike Lee’s CHI-RAQ and the Family Gala is Mike Mitchell and Walt Dohrn’s TROLLS. More about the Strand Galas can be found in the section summaries below.

One of the twelve films screening in the Festival’s Official Competition will again be given the Best Film Award; while the winners of the First Feature and Documentary Competitions will respectively receive the Sutherland and Grierson Awards. 2016 marks the second year of the Festival’s Short Film Award, again open to all short films across the contemporary short film selections, from narrative to documentary and experimental works. In a first for the Festival, each competitive section also features an animated film, a testament to the extraordinary animation work the programme team have seen this year. These are: Makoto Shinkai’s YOUR NAME in Official Competition; Claude Barras’ MY LIFE AS A COURGETTE in the First Feature Competition; Keith Maitland’s TOWER in the Documentary Competition; and Réka Bucsi’s LOVE will be considered for the Short Film Award.

The Official Competition line-up, recognising inspiring, inventive and distinctive filmmaking, includes the following:

Martin Koolhoven, BRIMSTONE

Kelly Reichardt, CERTAIN WOMEN

Mohamed Diab, CLASH

Paul Verhoeven, ELLE

François Ozon, FRANTZ

Ivan Sen, GOLDSTONE (European Premiere)

Mijke de Jong, LAYLA M. (European Premiere)

Barry Jenkins, MOONLIGHT (European Premiere)

Pablo Larraín, NERUDA

Terence Davies, A QUIET PASSION

Benedict Andrews, UNA (European Premiere)

Makoto Shinkai, YOUR NAME

Titles in consideration for the Sutherland Award in the First Feature Competition recognising an original and imaginative directorial debut are:

Jorge Riquelme Serrano, CHAMELEON (International Premiere)

Darren Thornton, A DATE FOR MAD MARY

Houda Benyamina, DIVINES

Johannes Nyholm, THE GIANT

Mohamed Ben Attia, HEDI

William Oldroyd, LADY MACBETH

Hope Dickson Leach, THE LEVELLING (European Premiere)

Claude Barras, MY LIFE AS A COURGETTE

Bartosz M. Kowalski, PLAYGROUND

Gabe Klinger, PORTO

Julia Ducournau, RAW

Wang Yichun, WHAT’S IN THE DARKNESS

Daouda Coulibaly, WÙLU

The Grierson Award in the Documentary Competition category recognises cinematic documentaries with integrity, originality, and social or cultural significance. This year the Festival is screening:

Jenny Gage, ALL THIS PANIC (European Premiere)

Eva Orner, CHASING ASYLUM (European Premiere)

Jon Nguyen, Olivia Neergaard-Holm, DAVID LYNCH: THE ART LIFE

Claire Simon, THE GRADUATION

Khushboo Ranka, Vinay Shukla, AN INSIGNIFICANT MAN (European Premiere)

Alma Har’el, LOVETRUE

Alice Diop, ON CALL

Ulrich Seidl, SAFARI

Marco Del Fiol, THE SPACE IN BETWEEN – MARINA ABRAMOVIC AND BRAZIL

Mehrdad Oskouei, STARLESS DREAMS

Keith Maitland, TOWER

Andreas Dalsgaard, Obaidah Zytoon, THE WAR SHOW

The Short Film Award recognises short form works with a unique cinematic voice and a confident handling of chosen theme and content. This year the Festival is screening:

Ivete Lucas, Patrick Bresnan, THE SEND OFF

Réka Bucsi, LOVE

João Paulo Miranda Maria, THE GIRL WHO DANCED WITH THE DEVIL

Issa Touma, Thomas Vroe§ge, Floor van der Meulen, 9 DAYS – FROM MY WINDOW IN ALEPPO

Patrick Tarrant, THE TREMBLING GIANT

Anna Maguire, YOUR MOTHER AND I

Kevin Jerome Everson, EARS, NOSE AND THROAT

Ena Sendijarevic, IMPORT

Amy Nicholson, PICKLE

Ali Asgari, Farnoosh Samadi, THE SILENCE

Jed Hart, CANDY FLOSS

Ana Vaz, THERE IS LAND!